Nashville Files Public Nuisance Suit Against Kurdish Street Gang

Cities around the country often police street gangs to protect the public from crimes, property damage and improper gatherings. Now, a new tool is being utilized: the public nuisance lawsuit.

Police in Nashville have filed Tennessee’s first public nuisance lawsuit against a street gang consisting of Kurdish refugees, seeking to prohibit them from meeting in an area of downtown Nashville that includes city parks, an elementary school and neighborhoods, the Associated Press reported.

The lawsuit is based on the state’s public nuisance law, which was amended in 2009 to include criminal gang activity. Typically, public nuisance laws are used in cases of prostitution or illegal alcohol sales.

Under the law, police report violations to the court, which would determine what action to take. A similar public nuisance law was used against gang members in California and was upheld by the California Supreme Court, according to AP.

Police claim that the gang’s use of public parks and private parking lots hurt the community, and they cite an instance in which a security camera was cut down in a park and the gang’s initials spray-painted.

Nashville has the largest Kurdish population in North America, with approximately 11,000 Kurds, according to USA Today. Nashville Public Television produced a program in 2008 called “Little Kurdistan, USA” about Nashville’s Kurdish refugee population

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